


in the dark i can hear your heartbeat

by amessofgaywords



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: F/F, and here we have a soulmate au, brooke is extra cute in this just because, i love pinkberry and i love soulmate aus so..., michael and jake are chloe's bros, of the kind where you can hear your soulmate's thoughts and share a sort of connection with them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27715346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amessofgaywords/pseuds/amessofgaywords
Summary: Some soulmates are platonic. Some are romantic. Some are mutually beneficial. Chloe’s soulmate is a romantic soulmate, a butterflies-in-the-stomach, sweaty-palms, dizzy-headed romantic soulmate who makes her mouth dry and her heart race. Chloe’s soulmate makes her smile, giggle, and swoon all at once. Chloe’s soulmate stole her goddamn heart.Chloe’s soulmate, by the way, is goddamn Brooke Genevieve Lohst. So that’s great.or a pinkberry soulmate au, in which chloe gay panics over brooke for a good long while.
Relationships: Brooke Lohst/Chloe Valentine
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	in the dark i can hear your heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

> how's the be more chill fandom doing today? listen, i know this musical is old and so is this pairing, but i have so many _thoughts_ about them, okay? so here we go.
> 
> title from cosmic love by florence + the machine.

_Soulmates are special,_ Chloe’s mom told her when she was little. _Special pairs of people who are meant to be together. They can be your best friend, your partner, or your true love. Once you find each other, you will always be connected to them. They’ll be your one special person for the rest of your life._

When Chloe was little, this sounded like a fairy tale. She was weirdly idealistic that way. Turns out this shit is nothing like a fairy tale. It isn’t predictable or cliché. It’s scary. But it’s nice, a little bit, too.

Cause Chloe found her soulmate. She never could have guessed it in a million years. And she kinda doesn’t mind being in love with her that much. Which isn’t a good thing.

\---

Soulmates are bonds. Usually two, in rare cases three, but most of the time two. You meet your soulmate and most of the time you don’t know right away. But then there’s a moment. A moment the universe decides, or something, where you look at your soulmate and you go _oh. Oh,_ they’re the one. And from then on, everything changes.

They stand out in a room. A sort of aura, a signature smell. You can always find your way to them no matter where you are. You can hear their thoughts, feel their feelings. You know what’s happening to them before they do. Some people say that the day you die, your soulmate dies too. Tied together for the rest of your lives.

Some soulmates are platonic. Some are romantic. Some are mutually beneficial. Chloe’s soulmate is a romantic soulmate, a butterflies-in-the-stomach, sweaty-palms, dizzy-headed romantic soulmate who makes her mouth dry and her heart race. Chloe’s soulmate makes her smile, giggle, and swoon all at once. Chloe’s soulmate stole her goddamn heart.

Chloe’s soulmate, by the way, is goddamn Brooke Genevieve Lohst. So that’s great.

\---

It happened completely out of the blue and it’s so _boring_ of a moment that Chloe doesn’t even get what the universe is going for. Like, okay, she gets it, she’s gay apparently, it’s not a big deal. But did it have to be in SAT study group, though? Cause that’s so… _unexciting._

So it’s post-drugged up Shakespearean dumpster fire, and they’re all at SAT study group, which is a cover for Rich Goranski to beg for homework help and everyone else to blow off their other responsibilities. Sometimes it morphs into group therapy sessions. Not this time, though, this time they’re all spread out in the auditorium doing random stuff. Jerry (she knows it isn’t his name but it pisses him off to call him that and it’s fun) is teaching Jenna to use a Nintendo Switch. Jake and Rich are talking about some girl who skateboarded through the mall. Chloe and Brooke are sitting next to each other in seats that _really_ need reupholstering. It’s this completely mundane moment and it totally shouldn’t mean anything and it _definitely_ shouldn’t define the rest of Chloe’s life from here on out.

But Brooke is drinking a slushie from the 7-Eleven by the school (they snuck out ninth period, whatever, shoot them) and it’s making this gurgling sound, and Chloe’s trying to finish her chem homework. So she looks over to tell Brooke to stop. 

And she catches the light in Brooke’s grey eyes at _just_ the right angle and her heart stops beating. All of her blood rushes to her head, filling her ears and _shit_ this is what they always talk about, isn’t it? Damn. And she’s gripping her pencil so tight it snaps in two as this light that’s almost heavenly surrounds Brooke, and it smells like freshly baked cookies and sunlight and peaches and lavender and vanilla, and Chloe can hear a distant ringing, almost like she punctured her eardrum but not. It matches up with Brooke’s stupid sunny grin. 

A chunk of hair falls into Brooke’s eyes and she pushes it back with her hand tucked all the way inside her sweater sleeves and the moment breaks but it doesn’t, really, because Chloe can still feel the weird pounding in her chest and can still smell the smell and see the light around her and there’s a fizzling under her skin reaching out for Brooke, and, like, _weird._ And _shit._

“Hi,” Brooke says, and Chloe just turns back to her paper. 

And that’s how Brooke Lohst became Chloe Valentine’s soulmate, except now everything sucks. 

\--- 

There’s a lot of things that come with being Brooke Lohst’s soulmate. Number one, she wakes up earlier. Like, asscrack of dawn earlier. Chloe’s actually stopped setting an alarm, because apparently Brooke is just a natural alarm clock. She’s just perfect like that. 

Number two is the way Chloe knows, inexplicably now, wherever Brooke is at any given time. She feels her in classrooms, around the corner in the hallway, can even sense her when she’s at her house halfway across town. The feeling is dull, muted, but there, like a string tying them together and vibrating a little, like if Chloe tugs hard enough on it will snap back and reverberate back down to Brooke’s end and she’ll feel it too. If Brooke opens up it’ll be even stronger, probably. Key word being _if_ she opens up. 

Sometimes it happens. Your soulmate’s soulmate isn’t you. It’s not impossible. It’s not unheard of. It’s just sad. And if Chloe’s being, like, one hundred percent honest, it feels like it makes sense. Cause there’s no way Brooke freaking Lohst is ever going to fall in love with _her._

Anyway. Number three is Chloe also has all these weird cravings for bananas now, which is inconvenient considering she used to _hate_ bananas. And four is every so often, a burst of sadness, _loneliness,_ crawls up her chest and makes her want to rip out her heart, cause Brooke should never be sad, she should never be lonely. It sucks cause Chloe doesn’t want to feel it, but she sure as hell doesn’t want Brooke feeling it either. 

Number five is that she can hear Brooke’s thoughts, by the way. It’s both amazing and creepy. Chloe didn’t need to know how many times a day Brooke thought about her biceps. Like, it’s flattering, but a little weird. Actually, it’s very nice, and maybe Chloe wears more tank tops now because of it. Also, no person should spend _that_ much time deliberating on the existence of aliens. And why the hell are half of Brooke’s thoughts in German? 

She still hasn’t told anyone about the whole Brooke soulmate thing. Out of all of her friends (yeah, at this point they’re friends, right?) only Jake and Rich actually figured their soulmate thing out, but they’re a) dysfunctional and b) relatively new to this, like one or two months new. It took Rich getting off his supercomputer pill to realize Jake was his repressed “life buddy.” Then he jumped in Jake’s lap and gave him a hug. It was a spectacularly lame moment but Chloe’s glad she witnessed it anyway. 

Plus, even if she has some basis of experience, soulmates are, like, private business, terrifying business. So she settles for dealing with it alone and lying in bed at night tugging on that string and trying to feel for Brooke’s tug backs. That aren’t coming. Chloe’s started using lavender body wash because it reminds her of that special Brooke smell. 

If Chloe were _anybody_ else, maybe, this would be the greatest thing to ever happen to her. But she’s Chloe Valentine. She’s the hottest girl in school. She’s the alpha bitch queen bee of Middleborough High. She’s not _nice_ and she’s not _good_ and she’s not Brooke material, that’s for damn sure, so. 

So, it’s not that good that every time Brooke smiles, her heart turns into rainbow sprinkles and explodes. 

\--- 

Brooke is drinking La Croix from a can with a straw. It’s a limoncello La Croix so it’s yellow like Brooke is. Her straw is made of metal. She’s wearing an old knit sweater and a shirt that Chloe’s pretty sure is thrifted and it has mandalas on it. Her jeans are ripped and they didn’t come that way. She watches the movie on Chloe’s TV with wide eyes, like she’s taking in everything at once. Her boots are stained cause she can never remember to spray them before she wears them out in the rain. 

“You’re such a sexy moron,” Chloe says, staring at the side of her face. Brooke gives her a weird look out of the corner of her eye. 

“What?” 

“Nothing. Jeremy’s a semi-good Orin.” They’re having a movie night and they’re watching Little Shop of Horrors. Jeremy is singing along to Dentist! and thank god, cause otherwise that _pathetic_ coverup wouldn’t have been available for Chloe’s use. Brooke nods and goes back to drinking her La Croix. 

God. She’s a sexy moron. 

\--- 

See, the thing is, there are a lot of things about Brooke that _should_ be objectively unappealing, and maybe it’s a soulmate, universe thing, but Chloe can’t help but find them _debilitatingly_ attractive. See, she’s even got her using big words and crap. 

Brooke’s wardrobe consists entirely of granola girl sweaters, muddy boots, and jeans that don’t come pre-ripped but somehow are anyway. She has a whole collection of vintage band t-shirts that are vintage because they’re actually from, like, the seventies or whatever. And for some reason her whole thrift store chic look _really_ works for Chloe, like so much. Brooke swishes her long cardigan and squinches up her eyes and Chloe’s a goner. Heart palpitations, dry mouth, sweaty palms, the whole deal. 

Brooke likes comics. Correction, she loves them. She’s got a magazine rack in her room of collector’s editions. She can list off random iterations of the Avengers or the Justice Leaguers or whatever at the drop of a hat. She’s seen every Spider-Man movie in existence and has most of them memorized. Chloe calls this _nerd shit_ on everyone else and _too freaking adorable_ on Brooke. 

Brooke likes grunge rock. Brooke wears scarves indoors. Brooke drinks La Croix like it’s her lifeblood. She got Jake a phone case that says “dill with it” for his birthday last year. She thinks sexy dancing consists of bad twerking and shaking your hips around and it _still_ works on Chloe, for some reason. Brooke flashes one of those sunny smiles and she’s dead. 

The Lohsts live near the high school, in a split level at the back of one of those seventies developments that Chloe’s mom says are “one step up from a trailer park.” Brooke’s mom works nights so during the day she drives the family SUV, a clunky washed-out grey thing that is far from Chloe’s dad’s BMW, her car of choice, but still seeing Brooke at the wheel with that grin and her eyebrows all screwed up cause she hates brushing them makes her happy. And Brooke always goes way out of her way to pick Chloe up in the mornings even though she could get there faster if she just made Chloe take the bus. Brooke feels like her parents don’t care about her, so Chloe does her best, except for the times when she doesn’t do so hot. 

But this whole soulmate thing has really screwed all of that up. Cause now Chloe can’t do anything _but_ care about Brooke. And listen to her heartbeat, strong, steady, a little fast like an eager, chaotic dragonfly. And daydream about holding her hand, warm and a little scratchy from her dry skin. Plus now that she knows where Brooke is all the time it’s like there’s a compass in her chest vibrating when they’re close and she _hates_ thinking about what Brooke’s doing all the time that she isn’t with her. See, Chloe used to be a selfish bitch, but now she’s a selfish bitch with _justification,_ and that kind of screws up her whole redemption plan. 

It was never in the cards to fall in love with Brooke Lohst. The cards lied a lot then. Can Chloe burn the cards with a flamethrower? She wants to. 

\--- 

The cards said that Chloe and Jake would get married and have two kids, one boy who would be the captain of the basketball team and one girl who would be prom queen, spaced exactly one year apart. They would both be tall, cause come on, Chloe and Jake lucked out in that department (Brooke got the brain cells, of the two of them. Chloe’s not jealous about that, she’s a selfish bitch and she’s a dumb bitch too, it’s her thing). The cards, as it turns out, had a heteronormative agenda. Or something. 

Chloe likes girls, according to the universe. Maybe her whole pink thing is, like, cosmic. 

Chloe met Jake before she met Brooke, believe it or not. In first grade. They lived in the same neighborhood, almost. Chloe lived up on the hill and Jake on a cul-de-sac around the corner, but hey. Almost. And Margaret Valentine and Kelly Dillinger were members of the same country club, so _of course_ their perfect golden daughter and brilliant beautiful sun would have to play together and become friends and eventually get married. Like, what else was going to happen? Duh, they were soulmates. 

Soulmates are unpredictable. You can’t guess when it’s going to happen, or why, or who it’s gonna be. You can speculate, and you can fricking hope. Assumptive people, like the Valentines and the Dillingers, can make _educated guesses._ And it kinda made sense, Chloe and Jake. They were friends. They got each other. They told each other secrets. Jake didn’t mind that Chloe felt like she had to be in control, and Chloe didn’t mind when Jake asked her almost every day if he was doing good enough. Trauma babies. 

Educated guesses pointed to an eventual Dillentine romance. They both went along with it because above all both Chloe and Jake were super afraid of being _disappointments._ And then in middle school Chloe met Brooke. 

Brooke was everything Chloe wasn’t in that cliché brunette-blonde forbidden romance kind of way. She had soft insides and wore her heart on her sleeve but she was actually good at hiding when she was hurting, or maybe Chloe just wasn’t looking hard enough at first. Brooke didn’t mind if people knew stuff about her. She cared a lot about people and things and didn’t want to hurt them. She slept with stuffed animals when she was scared. She wasn’t sharply smart or witty but she could knock you down a few pegs without you noticing right away. She was ruthless in a cute puppy kind of way. She still fricking is. 

Brooke is also _super_ hot under all the awkward smiles and stumbly clumsiness. Chloe became friends with her because that kind of thing starts mattering in middle school. She stayed friends with her cause Brooke was kinda funny and liked to follow her around everywhere and Chloe liked having someone she could call if something cool or sad or weird or annoying happened. 

It never crossed her mind that her soulmate might be anyone _other_ than Jake until high school. Chloe didn’t think about soulmates a lot, honestly, cause she didn’t have much reason to. Jake was her soulmate, and even if he wasn’t, he was _going_ to be. It was the only thing that made sense. He was the only one Chloe could trust not to be absolutely horrible. So even when they started getting all on-and-off by sophomore year, she stuck by him and kept trying, because really, there was only one option. Hence the chasing all through the start of junior year and the _really_ questionable Halloween costume. 

Then the squibs or whatever, and then Rich comes out as bi and Jake’s soulmate and Jake is all _sorry Chlo but I have a mega hot five foot soulmate with muscles and pretty hair now and I’m gonna go be in love with him._ And Chloe _gets it,_ duh, but she’s still pretty pissed about it. She’s not jealous. Well, a little. Mostly of them, together, happy and holding hands and being all soulmate-y and crap. 

So Chloe was soulmate-less and she didn’t even have a backup soulmate in case the first one went screwy. She spent more time with Brooke. They hung out at SAT study group and went on Pinkberry dates and had sleepovers. And then she went and _fell in love with her._

Brooke isn’t in love with her yet. She might not ever be. Chloe’s trying to deal with it. She’s trying to deal with a lot. 

Soulmates suck. 

\--- 

If Chloe listens to OneRepublic in the middle of the night to stop thinking about Brooke, that’s her own business. If it doesn’t work, that’s also her own business. 

Brooke is talking to the squad group chat. They’re all buddies now. Chloe doesn’t know how it happened, she assumes it’s because of the parasitic quantum breath mint and she’s gonna leave it at that. It’s cool. Jeremy is less of a dweeb than Chloe thought and Christine is the nice, mom friend type, and Chloe needs one of those sometimes. Overall, they’re way less fake and stupid than her old friends, so it’s a win. She likes Michael, Jeremy’s best friend, the best. He’s gay, a loser, a nerd, and doesn’t bullshit. He’s exactly Chloe’s type, plus he likes gummy bears. It’s a match made in heaven. Michael being her soulmate makes more sense than Brooke. 

Brooke makes a joke about cheese and Chloe laughs at it, then shuts off her phone and goes to bed. Across town, she feels a warm glow in her chest, and hears laughter bubble up in her head. _I like making her laugh,_ Brooke’s voice says. Chloe shuts her eyes tight and dreams of yellow. 

\--- 

Chloe is _not_ moping. She’s not. She’s just wearing a hoodie to school. Relax, she’s got a crop top on underneath and a sexy high pony, she still looks like she’s _trying._ She may also just be wearing Brooke’s old Queen zip up that still smells like her. Both the natural, cleaning solution and old upholstery and cheap conditioner scent of Brooke and the new, soulmate smell that’s sort of indescribable but for the sake of expediency, we’ll call it _absolutely perfect._ Or, like, lavender, sugar cookies, vanilla, lemons, sunshine and light rain, a little bit of peaches. Fruity and sweet, like sugar. Pretty. Yellow. 

Brooke’s aura is yellow, too. The brightest yellow, like pure sunshine and Chloe would be blinded by it if it weren’t literally tailored to her eyes. She can see it right now across the cafeteria. Brooke is sitting next to Jeremy at their usual table, reading off her phone and sucking at a La Croix with one hand, Apricot flavor. Chloe is in the lunch line. An elbow is poking her in the ribs. 

“Chlo. You’re gonna explode your chicken wrap.” Michael kicks her forward with his shoe, and she stumbles. She has to wipe the dirt from his _ancient_ sneaker off of her leggings, but then she pinches his forehead and grabs his hand, dragging them to the table. “Yo. Where’s the fire?” 

“Brooke,” Chloe says without thinking, then literally _zips her lips closed_ because _goddamn_ is she useless. Michael snorts. 

“That’s an intensity reserved for soulmates and emergencies.” Chloe almost growls but decency, they’re in public. She bares her teeth instead and Michael gets the hint. “Did Rich set someone on fire again?” He’s joking for the sake of everyone else, cause they’re all staring at Chloe weirdly. But his eyes _know_ something. Chloe tosses her chicken wrap on the table, drops her backpack on the seat next to Brooke, and twists her grip on Michael’s wrist, dragging him to the best place for hallway interrogation: the janitor’s closet outside the science wing. 

“Someone ate her Wheaties this morning?” Rich questions as they walk away. Chloe hears a smack and a whispered “shut up!” and the way it reverberates inside her skull she knows it’s Brooke, plus the warm bright feeling in her chest is, like, a dead giveaway. 

“So, you’re dragging me why?” Michael asks. 

“You tell me, Mell.” Chloe shoves him into the empty janitor’s closet and locks the door behind her. “You said the thing.” 

“What thing?” 

“The Brooke thing.” Michael still seems confused. “The soulmate thing.” 

“Oh. Yo, I was joking. But you reacted like an amazon on steroids, so while you have me captive, what was that about?” Chloe can _see_ Michael’s eyebrow raise in the dark and it makes her mad. From far away she can feel Brooke’s heart sink in her chest, a little bit of sadness and a feeling she’s grown to know is that stupid inferior Brooke feeling, where she starts to think she’s not enough. Chloe beams thoughts at a bond that isn’t quite there yet, _I’m coming back, I’m still here, I promise we’re good,_ but Brooke obviously can’t hear them yet, and Chloe’s mind feels chilly. 

“Um. Chloe. Earth to Valentine. I spilled lipstick in your Valentino bag.” 

“Wha- lipstick in my Valentino white bag?” Chloe finishes the vine on instinct and then sits, right on a crate of cleaning materials. Her ass is gonna smell like Pine-Sol. Whatever. She can’t be bothered to care at this point. “Um. Sorry. You were saying?” 

“I said, is Brooke your soulmate?” 

“No! No, I haven’t found my soulmate yet. I mean I don’t have a soulmate. Nope. Michael, you’re crazy.” 

“Unlikely.” 

"Okay.” Chloe tugs at the end of her ponytail to feel something. “So maybe Brooke is my soulmate. What about it? I mean, it doesn’t matter.” 

“Does she know?” Michael moves and sits on the ground next to her. Chloe should really find the light switch, but then she feels wet in the corners of her eyes, so _nope_ it can stay dark for right now. 

“No goddamn way. I tell her and everything is ruined.” 

“Okay.” Michael is quiet for a second. “I don’t get it. But, uh, Jeremy is mine and I haven’t told him yet either, so I guess I do.” 

To her abject _horror,_ Chloe sniffles. Out loud. She wipes her nose with her sleeve and regrets it immediately because _ew,_ snot on Brooke’s sweatshirt. Now she has to wash it and what if it doesn’t smell like Brooke anymore? And how is that her biggest problem right now? 

“Are you kidding?” Chloe sniffles again, a wet laugh crawling out of her dehydrated throat. “Jerry’s over the goddamn moon for you.” 

“If only.” Michael seems reluctant to finish the conversation, so Chloe leans back, hitting her head on the concrete wall. The bell rings. There’s a flicker of something down the bond, maybe Brooke getting startled or excited, a flash of yellow in the hallway, then it disappears. The bell scared her again. Chloe laughs, cause Brooke never knows it’s coming, and always jumps ten feet when it rings. 

“Brooke?” Michael asks. She nods. “If, uh, I could ask?” He starts. Chloe’s phone buzzes and cuts him off. 

It’s Brooke. Asking if she’s coming to class. Chloe texts back to say her and Michael are skipping and she’ll see her after school. She shows Michael the phone. 

“I got you out of seventh. Okay, what were you saying?” 

Michael sticks out his tongue. “I was just gonna ask, what’s got you so upset? From my view, you and Brooke are already pretty inseparable. An eternal bond shouldn’t really change that, right?” 

Chloe groans, her head dropping down to her raised knees, and she hits her forehead, right, like this day couldn’t get better. 

“Okay. So. This just wasn’t what I expected to happen,” she breathes, hands trapped between her knees. She makes eye contact with Michael in the low light and his eyes are glowing behind his glasses like some weird nerd genie. 

“Aren’t soulmates, like, the opposite of what everyone expects to happen?” 

“Yeah, but this is, like, major screw up. And it-” Damn it, Valentine, don’t cry now. “It pisses me off, because – uh, no offence – Brooke deserves a soulmate like Jeremy. I really thought maybe they were gonna be it, you know, before.” During the play, when Jeremy and Brooke dated for like a week cause Jeremy wanted “experience” and Brooke was lonely and sad. Chloe, by the way, has vowed to never let her feel like that again under punishment of death and forced application of blue lipstick. 

“Yeah, it made sense a little.” Michael shrugs. “Who did you think yours was then?” 

“Jake.” It should be obvious, right? “We were gonna be together anyway. Then he screwed me over for Rich and I was alone.” 

“But you had Brooke, right?” Michael lowers his voice. Chloe hangs her head and groans again, nice and long. Groaning is a pretty good way to express frustration in her book. Undignified but effective. 

“Ugh, I had Brooke. And she made me fucking fall in love with her, with her gorgeous smile and shiny hair and soft looking face and her dumb sweaters and her hats, oh my god, have you seen her in a hat? You’d die. I die every time. Before I could feel in her the back of my brain all the time, even.” Chloe drops her head on Michael’s shoulder. A little bony but okay. “Having a soulmate sucks.” 

“Most of the time.” Michael pats her shoulder awkwardly. “Hey, isn’t this Brooke’s hoodie?” 

“Don’t.” Chloe pokes him in the stomach but her _entire_ threatening edge is gone right now and it’s kind of really annoying. “And I hate this. If it were Jeremy it would be okay. Or even, I don’t know, even Dustin Kropp or something. Hell, she could be _Madeleine’s_ soulmate and it would be okay.” Chloe chews on her lip. “Okay, maybe not that. But my point stands.” 

“So you’re saying you wouldn’t be jealous.” Michael needs to stop sounding so smug right freaking now. Chloe slaps his shoulder. 

“ _No,_ I’m saying I would be okay with it. Cause all those people, right, sans Madeline, are good, and nice and they can give her what she deserves. The second Brooke walks into my brain she sees all my shit insides and my bad instincts and my murder fantasies. All the shit I did and never told her about. And even if she doesn’t care about that, which, ha, that’s rich, she still has to deal with me. I have to take care of her, and I don’t know how, Michael.” Valentine, you better not cry again. “Fuck, Michael, I just want her to be happy.” 

“You don’t think you can make her happy?” Michael rubs soothing circles on her lower back. Chloe feels a pulse under her skin near her upper arm, Brooke is being touched. She has to flinch away from overstimulation. She shakes her head aggressively. 

“Duh, Mell. I’m not good enough for her and she’s stuck with me.” 

“So you’re not mad at the universe,” Michael suggests, “for pairing her with you. It makes you happy, actually, because you love her. You’re mad at yourself for not being what she needs.” 

Chloe stands and brushes off her leggings. “Yeah, we’re done here. Thanks for this. If you mention it outside of this closet I tell everyone you were hiding in the bathroom having a panic attack at the Halloween party.” 

“Joke’s on you, I think most people already know that.” Michael shoves at her arm. “Okay. You going back to class?” 

“I’m gonna go hang out in the soccer field.” Chloe shrugs. She’s probably going to binge watch Drunk History and procrastinate her problems like any rational person. “Text me later?” 

“TTYL XOX,” Michael says, flashing a face like an emoji, and Chloe shoves him out of the closet, staying inside to relish in the quiet for a little while longer. 

And yes, goddamn it, she sees the irony. 

\--- 

“Gooooooood morning!” Brooke throws herself across Chloe’s lap, arms outstretched like sunshine personified. She scrunches up her nose and Chloe’s chest heats itself from the inside out. Her stupid heart starts beating fast. Thank god Brooke can’t hear her thoughts yet; the gay overload would be too much for _Michael_ that’s how bad Chloe’s got it. 

“Morning, you.” Chloe boops Brooke on the nose, and she feels a little twinge on her own face. It’s creepy and a little cool. Brooke rolls over so her stomach is across Chloe’s knees and squirms. 

“Why are you so bony?” 

“Why are you laying on me?” 

“I’m happy.” Bubbly bright joy is swimming through Chloe’s stomach, yellow feelings spilling out her ears and coating them both in a protective bubble strong enough that no one else is going to get through, a them bubble, a soulmate bubble. 

“I can see that about you.” Chloe starts stroking Brooke’s hair. Brooke hums and she can hear it in her heart. 

\--- 

Brooke is in Pre-Calc and she’s confused. Chloe can see her yellow, brightest around her brain and her foot, which she’s tapping on the ground anxiously. Chloe doesn’t know what they’re doing, she takes AP Stat. But she knows Brooke hates math. She listens hard and can hear something about odd functions. _Reflection through the origin,_ she beams as hard as she can down a vibrating yellow string. Brooke probably can’t hear her, though. 

“And then we ate spider legs and jumped on a trampoline off the edge of the New York State Building.” Michael smacks Chloe on the arm. “You’re zoning, Chlo.” 

“Brooke is in Pre-Calc,” Chloe points out the windshield like an idiot, cause obviously Michael can’t see the perfect buttery yellow through the brick wall of the school. They’re not in class right now because Chloe is skipping gym and Michael is skipping chemistry. They went to 7-Eleven and now they’re drinking slushies in Michael’s car. Chloe’s tongue is pink. She wonders if Brooke can taste artificial cherry. 

“And so you’re watching her?” Chloe nods, still staring at Brooke. She feels relief. Brooke answered a question right. “Okay, that’s not creepy.” 

“Screw off.” Chloe sucks on her slushie. “Where’s Jeremy right now?” 

“I don’t know. He’s, uh, we’re different.” Michael plucks at a loose string on his hoodie so Chloe knows to drop it. “When are you gonna tell her?” 

“When she falls in love with me and she can feel me back,” Chloe answers simply. 

“In your own words, that will never happen.” 

“Exactly.” Chloe starts scratching at the inside of her wrist, which is a nervous habit she should really break because she’s allergic to most cheap lotions and the clinical stuff smells like a hospital. She feels a sharp sting on her thigh. Did Brooke pinch herself? Whatever, now she’s not scratching her wrist anymore. 

“You know, Brooke has a right to know you’re stalking her during Pre-Calc.” Michael punches her in the arm. “I mean, I’m joking, but you know she’s your soulmate too, right? That’s literally how soulmates work.” 

“Not always.” That’s all Chloe’s gonna say about that today. Brooke’s thoughts are a jumble of math lingo, comic book conspiracy theories, and Chloe’s face, with her eyes sparkling like an anime character. That’s kinda cute. Chloe should draw that if she gets the chance. 

“You’re the dumbest person I know,” Michael says. 

\--- 

_Yeah, I do wanna go! Wait, did Chlo wanna do something this weekend?_ Brooke’s thoughts go weirdly silent for a second. Chloe wasn’t planning anything for this weekend, so whatever Brooke wants to do is probably okay. She considers texting her this but then Brooke is gonna ask how she knows and Chloe isn’t ready for that conversation. _Okay, sure. Why the heck not._ Chloe distantly hears Brooke tell Jeremy that she’s down for a squad movie field trip on Saturday. A second later, she gets a text confirming this. They’re going to see some new superhero movie. 

Chloe texts back that she’s looking forward to it. She doesn’t like superheroes but she does when it’s Brooke. She feels a little bit of golden excitement fill her up inside. 

\--- 

“Who wants popcorn?” Brooke’s heart jumps in Chloe’s chest. “Alright, just Rich. Who wants candy?” 

Chloe elbows Brooke. “Why didn’t you raise your hand?” 

Brooke gives Chloe the kind of look like _don’t ask me that question,_ which is normally Chloe’s move, so it’s weird. “Um, it’s not that healthy, and I already had fries today.” 

Chloe catches Jake’s attention as he starts ordering food. “One more popcorn.” 

Brooke grasps at Chloe’s arm. “You didn’t have to.” Chloe just shrugs, like _duh._ Brooke reaches down and _intertwines their fingers what the hell_ so now Chloe’s gonna explode. It feels warm and safe. She decides she likes holding hands with her soulmate. Or just that’s a Brooke thing, and holding hands with Brooke is nice. Maybe both. 

Brooke arms herself with the bag of popcorn and a La Croix she snuck in under her sweater. Chloe gets gummy bears and a Coke. They follow the crowd of teenagers with too little time on their hands into the theater. 

Chloe doesn’t know superheroes at all, but apparently these ones are popular because the theater is almost full. Brooke drags her to the row three down from the back slightly to the left, which according to her is the best place to sit because the curvature of the screen is just right for maximum action or something. Adorable nerd. 

There’s so many people that the squad ends up separated. Michael, Jeremy, and Christine are down a few rows and to the right, Jake and Jenna are all the way in the back, Rich is right in front of them, and then there’s Chloe and Brooke. All alone. 

Brooke doesn’t let go of Chloe’s hand when they sit down and she only squeezes harder when the opening credits start. Superhero movies bore Chloe, so she watches Brooke instead. The light from the screen on her face, yellow happiness, lemon sunshine smell and little flares of surprise every time something happens she isn’t expecting. At boring moments Brooke looks over and smiles at Chloe and she has to force her mouth to smile instead of just leaning in. When the main punchy guy kisses his reporter-friend-slash-love-interest, Brooke leans her head on Chloe’s shoulder and nestles into her neck. Resting her cheek on Brooke’s hair feels like touching a cloud. A really nice-smelling, cosmically beautiful cloud. 

Chloe thinks the movie ends well. It’s not one of those ones where people applaud, it’s not Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or anything, but Brooke seems happy with it. It’s nine by the time they get out to the mall. Brooke, for the record, is still holding Chloe’s hand. 

“Anyone up for Denny’s?” Jake asks. Michael, Jenna, and Rich agree. Jeremy has to get home to feed his turtle and Christine has a curfew, so they’re heading out. Chloe looks to Brooke. 

“I have to pick up a couple things. Maybe another time?” Brooke says, making eyes at Jake that Chloe doesn’t understand. Jake nods and swings an arm around Rich’s shoulders (awkward because he’s so short but Chloe admires the effort) and points a finger gun at her. 

“You got it. Chlo?” 

“She’s my ride,” Chloe shrugs, pointing at Brooke. “I go where she goes.” Michael has to hide his snort behind his hand and Chloe is stuck between rolling her eyes and dying on the spot. Has she always been this obvious or is this yet another soulmate thing? Like that urban legend where you can’t lie to your soulmate or something? 

Everyone leaves and then they’re just standing there in the food court, in front of the Panda Express. Chloe looks down at Brooke. She looks kinda pink in the cheeks. “What the hell do you need to pick up at nine PM?” 

“I don’t know, you’re the one following me.” Brooke sets off in the direction of the Hot Topic, so Chloe just goes after her. “How did you like the movie?” 

“They punched the bad guys. The wasp one was hot.” 

“Ha, yeah, okay.” Brooke tangles their hands together again. The sleeve of Chloe’s jacket gets caught up in Brooke’s sweater. Messy, a little uncomfortable, them. Are the metaphors getting more obvious, or is that just Chloe? 

“I actually kinda wanted to talk to you about something,” Brooke starts ominously, and Chloe raises an eyebrow. They stop in front of Hot Topic. She faces Brooke so the moment can feel important, or whatever. “Uh, you know soulmates?” 

_Fuck._ Is that- oh, they’re doing this. Play it cool, Valentine. Act like you’ve been here before. “Yeah, I’m familiar.” 

“Okay. Do you know who yours is yet?” 

What does she say? Cause she can’t tell the truth- oh, Michael is going to _kill her._ If she tells Brooke, it ruins everything. Unless she’s- nope. Deflect. We’re not doing this now. “No. I mean, I can guess, but it’s not- I don’t know right now.” 

“Okay.” Brooke’s yellow dims, goes almost brown. Her shoulders deflate. No one but Chloe would notice. Maybe that’s the point. “I just. Huh. I thought maybe-” 

“What did you think?” If they’re gonna do this, Chloe needs to hear Brooke say it first. 

“You thought your soulmate was Jake, right?” Oh, honey. Not that move. Chloe _invented_ that move. “But now he’s with Rich.” 

The mall is a little too bright and a little too loud. Brooke’s eyes are like hot sunbeams, boring into Chloe. Instead of filling her with light, they’re like lasers making her explode. Once upon a time she could have dreamed about a conversation like this. Right now all she sees is late nights and fear and no trust, god, Chloe doesn’t deserve this. Well, Brooke doesn’t deserve this. Brooke deserves better than this mess. 

Chloe’s brand is making bad decisions. 

“Actually, yeah. I mean, he is. Jake is my soulmate. Just unrequited.” 

Brooke looks kind of surprised. And a little sad. Chloe’s heart is gonna start breaking in two any minute. 

“Yeah. That’s why I was so mad about him breaking up with me. I thought, you know, even if it wasn’t requited, but hey. Whatever. Um, that’s it. It’s just kind of embarrassing, okay? Can we not talk about it?” 

“Sure.” Brooke’s voice is empty. Her eyes are too. She starts walking again, into the Hot Topic. At ten past, it’s almost empty. She’s going to the back, the piercing section. Chloe follows again. 

“Wait. Brooke. What’s- what’s wrong?” Damn it, why can’t she just accept it? Why is Chloe so tremendously bad at this? 

Brooke stops in front of a rack of naval piercings. “I know who my soulmate is, Chloe.” They’re facing each other but Brooke is staring over Chloe’s shoulder. “It’s you.” 

Oh. 

_Oh,_ fucking heck on a candy cane motherfricking peanut butter. Wait, the hell? That’s such a Brooke swear. 

Oh. So Brooke does know. Probably for a while. And she’s staring at Chloe now, apprehension swirling between them. Chloe clenches her arms tight in at her chest, swallows roughly. 

“Ha. Um. What?” 

“You’re my soulmate, Chloe.” Brooke’s weirdly still, almost bored looking. She’s guarding herself, probably. Obviously. All Chloe’s giving off is cold and lies, and Brooke shouldn’t have to feel that. How the hell did they get here? 

Chloe glances around, doing her best impression of a straight girl put on the spot by her gay best friend. Which, _gross._ Being straight, that is. “Wait, seriously? Brooke, I don’t… I mean, I know mine’s unrequited and everything-” 

“It’s not supposed to matter. Mine is too, right? Let’s forget about it.” Brooke turns around, her sweater picking up and twirling. It’s kind of majestic. Damn, this soulmate shit is _weird._ Chloe watches in a sort of horrified silence as Brooke picks up a random belly button piercing, with a skull in it, and goes to pay at the counter. 

“Is that for you?” Chloe asks, all trepidatious. Brooke shrugs as she hands it to the wiry teenaged cashier with purple hair and those weird ear spacer things. 

“Nah. Stella’s birthday.” Stella, Brooke’s goth cousin. Chloe didn’t know that before this moment, but she does now She nods. Brooke hands over a twenty and turns to leave. Chloe follows her, not having to walk very fast cause she’s got long legs even when Brooke is being speedy and annoying. 

“Brookie?” Chloe gets the sense that’s maybe _not_ the nickname to use right now but who cares, for the sake of expediency. Brooke slows down a little so they can walk next to each other out to the parking lot. “We’re okay, right? That, you know, I’m not your soulmate and everything?” 

“We’re good.” Brooke smiles. It doesn’t reach her eyes and her yellow is as dim as it’s ever been. She smells bitter, like sour lemons, and there’s something like defeat, acrid and hollow, burning through Chloe’s limbs. She smiles back. She reaches down to intertwine their hands but Brooke hesitates before taking it. 

\--- 

So Chloe takes Sunday off. Logically. She puts on her comfiest sweatpants and the purple sweater she nicked from Brooke (actually it was her sweater, a gift from her grandma, but _she_ wasn’t gonna wear it so she gave it to Brooke and then borrowed it once and never gave it back) and lounges on the couch. She’s got Game of Thrones on the TV, she’s got a bowl of trail mix (damn you, Brooke cravings) and a beer she stole from the fridge. Her dad is in Vegas for “work,” her mom is on a cruise in the Bahamas. She should be having the time of her life. 

Instead, she’s crying her contacts out. God _damn_ it. 

She can’t tell if it’s Brooke’s sadness she’s feeling or her own. Chloe isn’t really a crier (unless she’s drunk) so it would maybe make sense if it was osmosis Brooke feelings creeping up her throat and exploding out of her in periodic wails. But Chloe is also sad. And guilty. And a little pissed, mostly at herself. So she’s getting the feeling she can’t really put the blame off on this one. 

But _ugh_ even Daenerys burning up the Masters can’t make her stop thinking about Brooke. And how dumb she is. How dumb she is about Brooke, specifically. Chloe’s dumb. 

You know how they’re always saying, when you’re a kid, _honesty is the best policy?_ Chloe didn’t listen to that. She lies. She lies a lot. About a lot of things. She tries not to lie to the people that matter, like the police or Brooke. But it’s always sort of been an instinct, on her part, to lie. So when Brooke asked who her soulmate was, in that moment of panic, Chloe’s animal brain went _whoosh_ and suddenly she was saying Jake was her unrequited soulmate. A total effing lie. So now she has to deal with that. 

She has two options. She tells the truth, which, no. Or she breaks Brooke’s heart. Considering Brooke’s heart is literally half beating in her chest, that’s not really a great option either. But, counterpoint, Chloe is bad at apologizing, and also she’s a little bitch sometimes. 

This is why Chloe hates soulmates. All of this _agonizing_ and _trying to do the right thing,_ it’s annoying. Brooke is like her good-person anchor, making her constantly think about every choice she makes. Maybe that’s because Brooke is just naturally the nicest, perfectest person on the planet. Maybe. 

The fact of the matter is, Brooke is Chloe’s soulmate and Chloe is Brooke’s soulmate but Brooke thinks Chloe isn’t Brooke’s soulmate, and Chloe doesn’t have the guts to tell her the truth. The fact of the matter is, she’s dug herself into an even deeper hole. Soulmate closet for one, please. 

Something like Michael’s voice (he’s not her soulmate so this is metaphorical) zips into her head and says _hey you idiot, what’s so bad about being in love with the best person in the world and having her as your soulmate, especially because she’s in love with you too?_ And Chloe’s dumb brain responds _cause I’m afraid of attachment, also she’s too good for me, also I don’t wanna push her away by being a horrible soulmate, also I panicked and now I can’t undo it, help me please,_ and then Michael’s voice zips right out of there. Real helpful. Honestly, she doesn’t blame him. She would leave her own mind if she could, it’s a mess in there. 

Chloe drops her head against the back of the couch, groans, and promptly tries to sit up. But the beer is getting to her, so she actually ends up falling and hitting her knee on the table. A sharp _ouch_ goes through her head, not her own. There’s a soothing sugar smell and pressure around her knee, like Brooke is rubbing it. It makes her feel worse. Chloe bats away the phantom hands that aren’t there. 

She’s gonna go to sleep. In the morning she’ll deal with the rest of her life. Brooke will still be there. Hopefully. 

\--- 

So Monday at lunch goes horribly, horribly wrong. 

Brooke sits down, right across from Chloe, looking like sunshine and happiness and looks at Jake next to Chloe and goes “I didn’t know Chloe was your soulmate before.” 

Jake looks up from his ham sandwich with _that_ look on his face like he’s got no idea what you’re talking about. Chloe just faceplants into the table. “Neither did I?” Jake questions, and Chloe can feel Brooke’s gaze turn to her. She groans. 

A split second lie comes to her and it’s kinda disappointing how easy it is to act like this is the truth. “I didn’t tell him yet, Brooke.” 

“Whoops.” Brooke doesn’t sound sorry at all. The fury of the small and pissed, Chloe thinks. When she looks up, Brooke is glaring with narrowed eyes and her La Croix straw trapped between her teeth and Chloe is torn between reaching for her and pulling her in for a very intense cuddle or grabbing her face and kissing her senseless. Neither is gonna work, so she sits up and turns to Jake instead. 

“Um… nothing.” Even when she’s lying, she chickens out about telling the truth. Chloe needs fucking therapy. 

“What, you’re not gonna tell him?” Brooke is half-teasing, half-pissed. She sounds like Chloe. Is this, like, a soulmate thing? That your personalities switch or something? Chloe isn’t sure that she likes it. 

“Tell me what?” Jake is as confused as ever. Bless his heart. And thank god Rich isn’t here to see this mess. Chloe never thought she’d bless the dentistry profession, but here we are. 

“You’re Chloe’s soulmate,” Brooke says without much fanfare. Chloe and Jake both stare at her. Chloe’s sure she looks like death could come and claim her any second. Jake kinda looks like a dead fish. “Like, unrequited, though. Duh.” 

“Chlo’s my… or you mean, wait. Um.” Chloe can just see the gears going in his brain. “Uh. Cool?” Chloe faceplants into the table again. She can’t see Brooke’s face but she can imagine the look on it. Does Brooke know she’s lying? She must. Or maybe she doesn’t. Maybe she’s just mad. No, she knows Chloe’s lying and this is her payback. God, Brooke is an evil genius. Chloe would almost be impressed, this is like Madeleine level griefing going on here, except Brooke is doing it to _her_ so that’s not cool. 

Jake leans in close and hits her in the side with his elbow. “I thought you didn’t know who your soulmate was.” Chloe just groans. “Uh, hey, it’s cool, you know. I mean, I don’t know how you fell in love with me after everything, and you know I’m with Rich, but it’s not like I mind, like-” Chloe cuts him off before this situation gets any worse. 

“We’ll talk later,” she says with a pointed look, and he gets it and backs down. So Chloe looks back at Brooke. She’s determined to make this as normal as possible, damn it. “What did you get on eight for the history homework?” 

_Eisenhower,_ the answer rings through Chloe’s head in Brooke’s voice. Chloe narrows her eyes. So that’s how they’re playing this. 

It takes three minutes of a staring contest for Brooke to dig the assignment out of her bag and the whole time Chloe pretends like she didn’t hear a thing. It’s a hell of a lot harder than she thought. 

\--- 

Chloe drags Jake out behind the gym after school, where no one is hanging around, thank god, since it’s been raining all day and the fields are too wet for the sports teams to practice. 

“You wanna tell me what’s going on?” Jake asks when they get out there, leaning against the wall like this whole conversation is _casual._

“No.” Chloe sits down on the little brick wall next to the parking lot and knocks her knees together. “But I will.” 

“Classic Chloster,” Jake smirks, sitting down next to her. “What’s up, dude?” 

“You haven’t called me Chloster in years.” So maybe she’s putting it off. 

“Well, it felt like a special moment.” Jake knocks into Chloe with his shoulder and she knocks him back. See, they _work_ as soulmates. Except Rich and Jake are the perfect chaos couple and Chloe’s sort of madly in love with someone else. At some point, she’s gotta admit it. 

Chloe sighs, staring up. After all the rain earlier, the sky is cloudy and the sun is hiding. “Hngh… um, I may have told Brooke you were my unrequited soulmate.” 

“Why’d you do that?” Jake isn’t laughing at her yet, but she can tell he’s close. Respectfully, _of course._

“Cause Brooke’s my soulmate. And she confronted me about it and I panicked and lied.” 

“O-kay.” Jake expels air through pursed lips and Chloe gets the feeling. “So, Brooke’s actually your soulmate?” 

“Uh-huh.” 

“And you’re hers.” 

“Yup.” 

“And you know you’re her soulmate and she’s yours and she knows you’re hers but she doesn’t think she’s yours?” 

“No, I’m pretty sure she knows. She’s just going along with it. I don’t know why though.” Chloe scuffs her feet against the pavement, not even caring about her nice, clean sneakers at this point. 

“Probably cause she doesn’t wanna make you mad,” Jake suggests. 

“What? Why would she make me mad?” Jake gives her a look. “Okay, but it’s Brooke. Brooke is different.” 

“Obviously.” They sit for a little bit. The wind is cold and Chloe wishes Brooke were here to make it a little warmer. Brooke is nice and warm and soft and smells like home and Chloe feels whole when she’s next to her. Jake coughs and catches her attention. 

“Uh, you sighed really weird. Are you, like, tuned in or something?” 

It takes Chloe a second. “What, to Brooke?” Jake nods. “Um, maybe. I’m still figuring out how this shit works. I was thinking about her.” 

“I’m always thinking about Rich,” Jake says almost wistfully. Chloe holds back her gagging noise cause she’s really not one to talk. “His arms, and his hair, and the way he smiles. His laugh, too. What he’s doing. We talk a lot. You know, up here.” He points to his head, like Chloe didn’t already get it. She rolls her eyes. “It’s good, you know. Having a soulmate.” 

“I _know_ it’s good.” 

“Then what are you afraid of?” Jake asks. 

“Brooke.” Chloe sighs. “I’m afraid of Brooke.” 

Jake gives her a second. To think, to breathe, to admit it, whatever, this is why he’s a good friend. Why did they ever try dating again? It was a bad idea. Chloe likes them like this. She looks up and sees the sun peeking out a little bit behind a cloud. Just a little. There’s a tug somewhere near her sternum, Brooke looking for her. She takes a deep breath. 

“I’m afraid of hurting her, first. I’m not good at the whole best-friend thing, let alone being a good girlfriend or soulmate. I’m worried I’ll mess it up somehow, be selfish or greedy or mean and push her away or make her feel like shit or something. And then, it’s, it’s uh.” Chloe stares resolutely at the ground, feels anticipation mixed with hot fear lace her stomach. “I’m afraid of what I feel about her, Jake.” She can feel his hand on her back, rubbing a little. It’s not as nice as Brooke’s, but it’s okay for now. 

“She makes me feel tingly and happy and like I can actually be something, and she’s funny and so pretty and smart and nice, _god_ is she nice. I love everything about her, and I loved it even before I thought the universe wanted us to be together, and _shit,_ god, I’m just scared of screwing this up.” Jake moves so both hands are massaging Chloe’s shoulders. It doesn’t feel as good as when Brooke does it sometimes. The words come out in a sudden vomity rush. “I didn’t feel like all that with you and I thought I was okay with just being whatever, being platonic and normal, but now I feel like I would die for her or give her everything, I don’t know, and I like it and I don’t know what to do about it.” 

When she’s done, she tucks into Jake’s chest. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and lets her wipe her nose on his Adidas jacket. She’s not crying, it’s just really cold out here. 

“Listen, man. I know it’s weird and scary as hell, but you gotta tell her, Chlo.” Jake pulls away so Chloe can look straight in his eyes. “The world depends on it.” 

“Really?” She raises an eyebrow. 

“Nah, but Brooke’s does, and yours does to. So do yourself a favor and get you some of that sweet Lohst, okay?” Chloe rescinds all previous statements about loving Jake, he’s the worst. She shows him so by hitting him on the arm. “I’m kidding. But you should go talk to her.” 

“She’s at work.” Chloe wipes her nose again. It’s just really, really cold. 

“At Pinkberry? Come on, is there anything more you two than Pinkberry?” 

\--- 

“Brooke?” 

Brooke works at Pinkberry three times a week, 3:00 to 6:30, which means she has a ten minute break at 4:00. Chloe knows this from visiting her at work about a million times. She gets to Pinkberry (thanks to a ride from Matt Goldstein that she had to trade her AP Stat homework answers for) at 3:57. 

Brooke is working the cash register. She glances at her shift manager under the weird white hat they all have to wear. He shrugs. “Thanks, Daniel,” she says, and steps out from behind the counter while Delana the VSCO girl takes Brooke’s place. 

“Good shift?” Chloe asks as they make their way outside. 

“Someone spilled all the mango flavor on the floor and I had to mop it up,” Brooke says. She sits down, cross-legged, on the bench across from the store and glances sidelong at Chloe. “What’s up?” 

“I have to tell you something.” Chloe turns to face Brooke all the way and stares right into her eyes. It makes something like pop rocks explode in the back of her throat, but she does it anyway. “I lied to you the other day. I’m actually… I mean, you’re my soulmate.” 

Brooke doesn’t seem shocked. “I know.” 

“I know you know, but I had to say it anyway. I’m sorry that I lied. I’m sorry I didn’t just tell the truth.” 

“Why?” Brooke shrinks into herself, not meeting Chloe’s eyes, and bottomless fear fills her stomach. “Were you embarrassed? Did you not… want it to be me?” 

“Not at first.” Damn it, _now_ is when you stop lying? Get your head in the game, Valentine. “I mean! I guess I was just scared. The whole time, that I was gonna- mess this up, or whatever. But no. I’m really, really happy it’s you, Brooke.” She hopes everything she’s feeling, saying, the look in her eyes and the magnets in their chests are enough. 

_Really?_ Brooke asks in her head. 

_Really really,_ she says. Brooke grins, the world feels right again. 

“So why were you afraid then?” 

“I didn’t think I was gonna be good for you.” Chloe looks away, at the Pinkberry, where Daniel and Delana are watching this go down. She rolls her eyes. Brooke’s coworkers are desperate for drama. “I really didn’t wanna hurt you. And I was… I was afraid of how you make me feel.” 

Brooke gnaws on the sleeve of her sweater, which _of course_ she’s wearing on top of her orange uniform. Sexy moron. “How do I… make you feel?” 

Chloe scoots closer on the bench, leans in as close as she’s daring to. Right now at least. “Uh, I guess like I’m being burned? But in a good way. And, um, I wanna hug you all the time. And kiss you, actually. I keep thinking about what your lips might taste like and it gets _really_ distracting sometimes, I don’t know, maybe you have that too. I think I would probably die for you, which is, ha, inconvenient, I guess, but cool, and god, I love when you smile, it makes my heart beat really fast. Actually anything you do makes my heart beat really fast, maybe that’s your heart though, I can’t really tell-” 

Chloe shuts up cause Brooke smashes their mouths together. 

It’s not really elegant. Brooke’s hat gets in the way, and Chloe nips at her tongue accidentally, and they’re on a bench in the middle of the mall for god’s sake, and Chloe can hear Delana and Daniel _whooping_ back at the store, but she doesn’t even care because _Brooke effin Lohst_ is kissing her and that’s the only thing that matters. Chloe would describe what it feels like, but she’s pretty sure the words don’t exist in the English language. Or any other language. 

“I was gonna ask if you wanted to make out,” Chloe grumbles when Brooke finally pulls away, flushed, her lips all swollen, _ugh_ Chloe wants to kiss her again already. “But, like, when we were in the car.” 

“I’m gonna leave work early.” Brooke grins, boops Chloe on the nose, and runs away. Chloe feels buzzing under her skin. She waits on the bench. But she knows she isn’t going to be waiting for long. Inside the store, Brooke hands her apron to Daniel, who nods and smiles. Chloe gives a tug on a pink and yellow string, and she can see it, feel it, as Brooke tugs back. 

_Soulmates are special,_ says Chloe’s mom. She really isn’t wrong about that. Brooke is about as special as they get. And the universe said that they belong together, so Chloe must have done something right. 

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me @amessofgaywords on twitter.


End file.
